SPRING 2018
George A Long Jr., Illinois Eta, 6/6/1939 #586
George A Long III, Indiana Alpha 1413
George A Long, Indiana Beta
#539 Theta,
C. Loy,
#332
Edward
10/19/1208
3/18/1937
Indiana Strawbridge,
Indiana
Robert
Theta, 4/5/1934 #504
Strawbridge,
Indiana
Theta, 4/19/1936
#531
Dallas Ryan
Long, Florida
Gamma,
4/22/2007
#1663
4/27/1947
#749
Herbert
Granville
Theta,
Moody
Jr. Illinois
Eta,
3/7/1914
Russell
Strawbridge,
Indiana
#232
THE WISCONSIN
BADGER PHI Official Newsletter of the Wisconsin Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
WE’RE GROWING EXPONENTIALLY
FROM UP-AND-COMING FRATERNITY TO ESTABLISHED
T
he Wisconsin Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta has experienced very exciting success over the past year. The 2017 year marked the transition from up-and-coming to well-established fraternity! With the addition of our beautiful chapter house, Phi Delt has had immense growth. Recruitment in the fall semester was very successful as we invited 21 great men to join the brotherhood. This was a significant jump from our Phikeia class size of seven in the fall of 2016. Christopher Bechtel 1841, our current recruitment chairmen, did an excellent job managing the spring recruitment events at our house which at the end of the week enabled us to extend bids to 13 new Phikeias. We are eager to teach them the history of Phi Delta Theta and what it means to be a member, so that they too can share this incredible experience. We are pleased to report our philanthropy success. In the spring of 2017, we paired with Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity and Delta Gamma Sorority to conduct a musical performance as a part of an
organization called Humorology. Our cast earned second place and raised over $32,000 for Dane County’s Rainbow Project, an organization whose mission is to provide restorative healing and hope for young children and their families who have experienced trauma, helping them build a foundation for the mastery of life-sustaining skills. To add to the philanthropic success, we hosted a volleyball tournament called Spike Out ALS and raised over $1,000 for ALS. We are excited that Phi Delta Theta has established the LiveLikeLou Foundation, so that we can continue to raise money for a great cause. Phi Delta Theta earned the second highest GPA out of 28 fraternities on campus during spring semester 2017! We attribute our success to the addition of our new house. It has given us a great environment to collaborate on schoolwork and host additional study hour opportunities. Sound Learning continues to play a huge role in our culture. President’s Corner continued on next page
PRESIDENT’S CORNER The fall of 2017 was also a great semester for Phi Delta Theta. This is when we moved into our new house on 237 Langdon St. The house has served as the ultimate tool for brotherhood, recruitment, and all other operations. We feel very fortunate that we live in such a beautiful home and we are especially thankful to the alumni who helped us get the house! The house has helped the chapter expand its presence in the Greek system and we hope to use this to become the premiere Greek organization on campus. The fall was also a great season for badger football! Active members and alumni were able to share in the fun season as we hosted a tailgate event at the Graduate Hotel for the homecoming game against Maryland. The chapter would like to thank everyone who attended the alumni event and to those who were unable to attend, we thank them for their
support in growing this chapter. On behalf of Wisconsin Alpha, thank you for your continued involvement and we hope to see you soon. Yours in the Bond, Riley Wiest 1838, Chapter President rwiest@wisc.edu
MEET OUR NEWEST INITIATES & PHIKEIAS 2017 FALL INITIATES
Sean Casper 1858, Brookfield, WI Matt Krolo 1859, Marshfield, WI Zachary Wegner 1860, Chicago, IL Will Bartkowski 1861, Brookfield, WI Maxwell Peterson 1862, Delafield, WI Owen Lemke 1863, Burlington, WI Ben Willstein 1864, Missoula, MT Peyton Leske 1865, Oshkosh, WI Mason Luedtke 1866, Minnetonka, MN Derek Thomas 1867, Wilton, CT
Grant Smith 1868, Spring Park, MN Andrew Ryder 1869, Lake Forest, IL Brett Merriman 1870, Naperville, IL Thomas Mahota 1871, Minnetrista, MN Matt Froze 1872, Appleton, WI Jack Geadelmann 1873, Excelsior, MN Travis Osbourne 1874, Hartland, WI Larry Goldman 1875, Berkeley, CA Austin Dulitz 1876, Albert Lea, MN Austin Moore 1877, Williams Bay, WI
2018 SPRING PHIKEIA CLASS
O
ur newest Phikeias have great passion and exceptional commitment to the Fraternity by hosting philanthropic events such as a March Madness charity bracket with
ABOUT US
CHAPTER ADVISORY BOARD Robert McAloon Alexander Carrick
Henry Adkison, Phikeia Educator Ajay Shah, Scholarship Zach Wagner, Risk Management Sean Casper, Social Chairman David Furlan, Secretary Jack Geadelmann, Alumni Secretary Nathan Johnson, Awards Justin Schuster, Brotherhood Derek Thomas, Chaplain Connor Jones, Chorister Robert Enright, Community Service Kevin Krause, Historian/Intramurals Brett Merriman, Humorology Justin Hanish, Parents Club Trevor Van Vleck, Public Relations/Webmaster Logan Morrison, Warden Matthew Gallagher, Philanthropy
CHAPTER OFFICERS Riley Wiest, President Colton Mowers, Vice President Jimmy Crimmins, Treasurer Christopher Bechtel, Recruitment
HOUSE CORPORATION BOARD Michael Moore, President Stephen C. Hird, Treasurer/Secretary Thomas A. Walker Scott Kowalski
The Badger Phi is published two times per year by the Washington Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for alumni and parents. ©Copyright 2018 Wisconsin Alpha. All rights reserved. Send news, address updates and photos to: Wisconsin Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta 2 South Campus Avenue, Oxford, Ohio 45056 STAY UP-TO-DATE /PhiDeltUW @PhiDeltUW
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/phideltuw/ phideltatheta.org
The Wisconsin Badger Phi » Spring 2018
proceeds going to LivingLikeLou, and participating in a lip sync battle hosted by Alpha Xi Delta for their philanthropy of Autism Awareness. Henry Adkison has helped foster in this great new class of leaders that will continue to elevate our chapter on campus moving forward. John Murphy, Hinsdale, IL Joey Wengert, Marshfield, WI Joe Cambio, La Crosse, WI David Allen, Chanhassen, MN Alex Englert, Washington, D.C. Nathan Hengel, Oconomowoc, WI
Yuyi Lum, White Plains, NY Lucas Flygare, Burlingame, CA Jackson Steiner, Mundelein, IL Haider Barq, Madison, WI Wyatt Eisen, Shaker Heights, OH Badely Hagstrom, Downers Grove, IL
UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO! Please visit phideltatheta.org/members/update-your-info/ to update your contact information.
Wisconsin Alpha
PHILANTHROPY SPOTLIGHT HAVING FUN AND WORKING HARD PAYS OFF This year is Phi Delta Theta’s third year participating in Humorology—an annual juried musical and variety show competition between fraternities and sororities to raise money for various organizations. Solely run, directed, written, choreographed, and performed by students, these mini-musicals are constructed by casts (teams) of sororities and fraternities. Each year, over 600 students spend an academic year on a cast. This year, 10 casts competed for seven spots in the final show. With the many Greek-life-produced musicals looking to get donations for their cause, some didn’t make the cut in December to be able to finally perform in the final show at the end of April. Thankfully, our members’ long hours and hard work paid off—they performed in the show Lost in Time on April 19–21 and won awards for best costume and best acapella out of seven shows. More importantly, they raised a lot of money for a good cause. Last year through Humorology our cast raised over $32,000 for the Rainbow project. This year, we raised $45,000 for Neighborhood House, a Madison nonprofit community center that promotes community inclusivity as well as community growth with a focus on those of underprivileged backgrounds. They will use
the money to add refurbishments, summer programs, and teen mentoring to their program. Our chapter takes pride in helping out with such a cause and many brothers who didn’t perform participated by cheering on the cast on the opening night. We did this by working together with sororities Chi Omega and Sigma Delta Tau, and fraternity Psi Upsilon. Among the cast from Phi Delt were Robbie Hemp (directing), Brett Merriman, Will Bartkowski, Travis Osbourne, Peyton Leske, Jackson Steiner, and recent alumnus Noah Christopher who returned to choreograph. If you would like to donate or learn more about Humorology, please visit humorology.org.
RECENT & UPCOMING EVENTS FALL 2017 ALUMNI HOMECOMING GAME AND TAILGATE Last fall, on October 21, 2017, Wisconsin Alpha had the pleasure of welcoming returning alumni to Madison to a tailgate before the Maryland homecoming game. We gave tours of the new chapter house and offered food and drinks at the Graduate Hotel just down the street. It was a great chance for newer members to meet alumni and hear about their Madison experiences in and out of the Phi Delt house. I would like to thank all those that came and all the alumni for your continued support.
2018 SPRING ALUMNI FALL EVENT
The spring alumni event welcomed alumni back to one of our first sunny spring days here in Madison. That day, the alumni got the chance to interact with brothers over wings and pizza, stay after for initiation and the chapter meeting, and then go head-to-head on the newly donated foosball table with both undergrad and alumni Phi alike. Thank you to Jason Dvorak for making it happen and to all of the alumni that were able to make the trip out! Turn the page for photos of the event and more about how the alumni really stepped it up to provide the chapter house with new foosball and pool tables.
2018 FALL ALUMNI FALL EVENTS
Come back to Madison and watch a game this fall! We will be hosting an alumni gathering for homecoming again this year and hope that you can join us. If you’re in town for any reason, feel free to stop by the house and meet some of the current brothers by phideltatheta.org
Jeff Ruehl, ’84, Jeff Schmidt, ’82, Lianne Schmidt, and Cathy Ruehl. Thank you to all alumni that showed up to the Wisconsin Alpha Alumni tailgate. We had a great turnout for the event and we hope to see you again this October for homecoming when the Badgers play the Fighting Illini!
reaching out in advance to Alumni Secretary Jack Geadelmann by cell 612-272-8381 or email jgeadelmann@wisc.edu. Football Schedule: Western Kentucky, August 31 New Mexico, September 8 BYU, September 15 Nebraska, October 6
Homecoming/Illinois, October 20 Rutgers, November 11 Minnesota, November 24 The Wisconsin Badger Phi » Spring 2018
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Looking to connect with fellow Phis in the Greater Wisconsin area? Like us: /groups/420228157996844/
REFER A PHI!
Wisconsin Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta 2 South Campus Avenue Oxford, Ohio 45056 Change Service Requested
Know any young men who would be great Phis? Refer them here: phideltatheta.org/ join/refer-someone. Then, send them to our Greatest U recruitment campaign: futurephidelt.org.
SAVE ★ the ★ DATE
HOMECOMING OCT
20 2018
Wisconsin vs Illinois Starts at 7 a.m. at The Graduate Hotel RSVP with Jack at jgeadelmann@wisc.edu
ALUMNI RESPOND TO A CALL TO ACTION AND QUICKLY RAISE FUNDS TO SURPRISE THE CHAPTER
Wisconsin Alpha alumni recently completed a successful fundraising drive to purchase a new Tornado Elite Foosball table and an eight foot Valley Panther Pool Table for the undergraduates. Doug Brown 1251, Eric Raskopf 1309, and Adam Warriner 1324 recently visited the chapter house on St. Patrick’s Day and noticed the sad shape of the current foosball table and called out to all Phis about contributing to a fund for a
replacement table. The undergraduates were also looking for a pool table as the new house has ample room for one. After the call went out to alumni, it took only seven days to raise $5,800 to cover the cost of both items. Next time you are in town, stop by and challenge the current members to a game of foosball or eight-ball.